Doctor Who Chronology: The Early 20th Century (1900-1959)

Rose Tyler meets Captain Jack Harkness for the first time.

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1900

January 23/24: During the Second Boer War, the Battle of Spion Kop is fought in South Africa. The battle results in a Boer victory and the British suffer 243 fatalities, including the husband of Jane Redfern, who will be the Farringham School nurse in 1913.

"Human Nature" (DW2).

Constance May Bassett, mother of Tommy Brockless, dies.

"To The Last Man" (TW).

1901

In Church Stretton, Shropshire, a number of people go missing when the Night Travellers circus visits town.

"From Out of the Rain" (TW).

An author, name unknow, begins to write the weekly adventures of Captain Jack Harkaway for the boys' magazine The Ensign. He will write the serial for the next 25 years.

In "The Mind Robber" (DW1), the Master of the "land of fiction" claimed to have been writing for the magazine for 25 years by the time of his disappearance in 1926.

A member of Torchwood Three in Cardiff, Wales, first picks up a regular signal from underground, unaware that it is the ring buried with Jack Harkness since the year AD 27.

"Three days" before "Exit Wounds" (TW).

Exit Wounds (TW): Torchwood Three is able to narrow the signal to Jack's location and dig him up. Jack, insisting he must not meet his earlier self working for Torchwood, asks to be placed in suspended animation in Torchwood Three's morgue.

A caption gives the year for this segment.

As requested, Torchwood Three places Jack in suspended animation, set to revive in 2009.

Shortly after "Exit Wounds" (TW). Jack makes a slight error when he asks to be frozen for "107 years time", as that would revive him a year before the story's main narrative. Fortunately, the others seem to realize the error.

October 2: The Holland 1, the first British submarine is launched. Shortly after a group of sailors are kidnapped by the Eternals for their space race around Earth's solar system in 1983.

Actual event referred to in "Enlightenment" (DW1), giving us a time period the abducted sailors are from.

1902

The 11th Doctor, travelling across the African wilderness with John Riddell, tells the big game hunter that is "popping off for licorice" and will be right back. The Doctor will not return for several months.

"Seven months" before the 1902 section of "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" (DW2).

Financier Lord Palmerdale, his assistant Adelaide and MP James Skinsale attend an evening at a casino. While there, Palmerdale is able to acquire some government secrets from Skinsale, secrets that could make it possible for the businessman to make a killing on the stock exchange. The trio board Palmerdale's yacht and forces its captain to head for London as quickly as possible, despite poor weather conditions.

While exploring the solar system, a Rutan scout decides that the Earth is an ideal point from which to launch a final assault against the Sontarans. After contacting its mothership, the Rutan's scout-ship develops a fault, and falls to Earth.

During the evening building up to "Horror of Fang Rock" (DW1).

Horror of Fang Rock (DW1) 1-4: The 4th Doctor and Leela visit a lighthouse being terrorized by the Rutan scout. The travellers are unable to stop the shape-changing Rutan from killing everyone in the lighthouse, including the survivors of a crashed yacht, but manage to destroy the Rutan mothership, putting a halt to the invasion.

"Eighty years ago" is described as being "back in the [18]20's", placing the story in the first decade of the 20th century. King Edward is King, narrowing the setting to after January 22, 1901, the beginning of that reign. Colonel Skinsale refers to feeling uneasy when in the presence of Lord Salisbury, further narrowing to setting to before Salisbury's death August 22, 1903. 1902 seems a safe bet.

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (DW2): The 11th Doctor returns to Africa and recruits big game hunter John Riddell to join him for an adventure in the 24th century. Riddell is returned to his home time shortly after, now in the company of Queen Nefertiti.

A caption gives the date.

October: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter is published. The 4th Doctor once has K-9 read him this story.

The reading is seen in "The Creature from the Pit" (DW1).

1904

The Palisades Cinema opens in Cardiff, Wales.

"From Out of the Rain" (TW).

The Russo-Japanese War begins. Some time during the conflict's year-long duration, soldiers are abducted by the War Lords to fight in their War Games. They are returned by the Time Lords.

"The War Games" (DW1).

1905

February 17: Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly premieres in Milan, Italy. This opera is later a particular favourite of Doctor Grace Holloway.

As we see in Doctor Who (TVM).

1908

In the Tunguska Basin in Russia, the artifact eventually known as the Tunguska Scroll is recovered.

"Enemy of the Bane" (SJA).

1909

Some soldiers based near Lahore, Pakistan, under the command of Jack Harkness, get drunk and accidentally run over and kill a child. This child is a "Chosen One" of the beings known only as "fairies".

A week before the flashback shown in "Small Worlds" (TW).

Small Worlds (TW): While travelling by train near Lahore and passing through a tunnel, 15 of Jack Harkness' soldiers are suffocated by the "fairies" in retaliation for the accidental death of their Chosen One; Jack is the only survivor.

The date is given in an on-screen caption.

1910

June 15: The Terra Nova Expedition to reach the South Pole, led by Robert Falcon Scott, sails out of Cardiff, Wales.

Historical event discussed by Toshiko and Tommy in "To The Last Man" (TW).

The Mexican Civil War begins. Before the war's conclusion the following year, soldiers are kidnapped by the War Lords to fight in the War Games. They are returned home by the Time Lords.

"The War Games" (DW1).

1911

March: In Hunstanton, Norfolk, the wife of Mr. Alfred Mace has her breath stolen by the Night Travellers circus, killing her. Mace insists to authorities that his wife could be brought back to life if the Travellers' flask could be aquired.

"From Out of the Rain" (TW).

Emma-Louise Cowell's father is born.

"Out of Time" (TW). Mr. Cowell is 48 when he dies in 1959.

Marcus Scarman writes to his brother Laurence from Egypt passing on the news of his discovery of a blind pyramid in Saqqara, which may contain a mastabah, or burial chamber.

Some time before "Pyramids of Mars" (DW1).

Pyramids of Mars (DW1) 1-4: The 4th Doctor and Sarah encounter the Egyptian god, Sutekh, in reality an all-powerful alien Osiran trapped beneath a pyramid in Egypt by his fellow "gods". Sutekh had the power source on the planet Mars which keeps him trapped destroyed, but the Doctor prevents him from escaping, forcing Sutekh down a time corridor until he reaches the end of his lifespan.

The year is given by Laurence Scarman.

In an alternate timeline, one where the Doctor and Sarah leave without stopping Sutekh's escape, the Osiran destroys every living thing on Earth, leaving in a barren wasteland, before moving on to the rest of the universe. This timeline is prevented by the Doctor and Sarah's actions.

As described in "Pyramids of Mars" (DW1).

The stone circle called the Nine Travellers is surveyed yet again.

"The Stones of Blood" (DW1).

The 11th Doctor once claimed to have a bi-plane lesson schedule for this year. Or possibly knitting.

"The Impossible Astronaut" (DW2).

1912

March 29: Robert Scott, his Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole a failure, dies while in Antarctica.

Tosh and Tommy discuss the expedition in "To The Last Man" (TW).

April: On her maiden transatlantic voyage, the RMS Titanic strikes an iceberg on the evening of the 14th and sinks. Of the more than 2220 persons aboard, more than 1500 die.

The 4th Doctor denies any involvement with the ship's fate. However, the day before the Titanic sets sail, a photograph is taken of the 9th Doctor with the Daniels family of Southampton. The Daniels cancel their passage on the doomed ship and survive. Futhermore, it appears at least one incarnation of the Doctor is on board when the ship encounters the iceberg.

The Titanic will serve as a model for a space cruiser encountered by the Doctor in 2008.

The Titanic is first mentioned in "Robot" (DW1). The 4th Doctor denies involvement in "The Invasion of Time" (DW1), although it is revealed through the Daniels photo seen in "Rose" (DW2) that the 9th Doctor is around at the time. In "The End of the World" (DW2), the 9th Doctor also complains about being on board, although, as he has recently regenerated, he was almost certainly in an earlier incarnation at the time. (Mind you, there is that possible gap near the end of "Rose" (DW2) where he leaves Rose to think about joining him.) The space cruiser Titanic appears in "Voyage of the Damned" (DW2).

The Royal Flying Corps, precursor to the Royal Air Force, in established in Britain.

As mentioned in "Ghost Light" (DW1).

Evangelist George Bennard composes the hymn "The Old Rugged Cross". In the far future, the hymn will become a sort of anthem for the drivers trapped under New New York on New Earth.

"Gridlock" (DW2).

Arthur Conan Doyle publishes the novel The Lost World, the tale of a plateau in South America where dinosaurs live on to the present day. The novel is likely partly inspired by tales told to Conan Doyle by a mad Redvers Fenn-Cooper of just such a plateau.

Fenn-Cooper mentions Conan Doyle laughing at his stories "Ghost Light" (DW1).

Flannan Isle, a poem by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson concerning the mysterious disappearance of a trio of lighthouse keepers, is published. The Doctor is reminded of this poem after his adventure on Fang Rock in 1902.

The Doctor quotes passages from the poem at the end of "Horror of Fang Rock" (DW1).

1913

Nemesis passes over the Earth, heralding the eve of the First World War.

As explained by the Doctor in "Silver Nemesis" (DW1).

September: The 10th Doctor and Martha land the TARDIS in the vicinity of Farringham School, fleeing from the Family of Blood, short-lived incorporeal beings who wish to attain long life by inhabiting the Doctor's body. The Doctor, estimating that after three months the Family of Blood will no longer be able to find him, hides his memories and Time Lord physiology in a fob watch and has the TARDIS create a fictional, human identity for him, John Smith. In this guise, the Doctor becomes a schoolteacher at Farringham School, with Martha, secretly watching over "Mr. John Smith", as his maid.

Two months before "Human Nature" (DW2) and "The Family of Blood" (DW2).

November 10-12: Human Nature (DW2)/The Family of Blood (DW2): After spending two months hiding from the Family of Blood at Farringham School, the 10th Doctor and Martha are found by the Family of Blood. Despite having fallen in love with school nurse Joan Redfern, Smith gives up his human existence to become the Doctor once again and defeat the Family of Blood. During this adventure, the Doctor and Martha also meet young Tim Latimer, a boy with latent telepathic abilities, who has seen flashes of his future while in contact with the Doctor's fob watch; when they leave this time period, the time-travellers present Latimer with the now-inactive watch as a keepsake.

The story takes place over three days, the first of which is identified as Nov. 10, 1913 by the newspaper that Martha shows "Smith".

1914

The Daleks' Master Plan (DW1) 7: While fleeing the Daleks across time and space, the 1st Doctor, Steven, and Sara Kingdom stop briefly in Hollywood.

Dating here is based on a couple of our heroes' encounters. The Keystone Kops feature in the segment, placing the events at Keystone Studios. Charlie Chaplin, also encountered, only worked for that studio during 1914. (This means that the Bing Crosby encountered by the Doctor cannot be the Bing Crosby, as he would be barely into his teens; but then "Bing" was not the real Crosby's name, so he is unlikely to complain about having that name in show business.)

June 28: In Sarajevo, Gavrilo Princip assassinates Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. This sets into motion a series of fast-moving events and declarations of war that eventually escalate into the Great War, later called World War I.

At some point during the War, the 1st Doctor and Susan are caught in an air raid.

The coming Great War is referenced frequently in "Human Nature" (DW2) and "The Family of Blood" (DW2), as well as "To The Last Man" (TW). The Doctor and Susan in the air raid is from "Planet of Giants" (DW1).

1915

Professor Edward Travers begins a search for the legendary Yeti which will last 20 years.

Professor Travers has been searching for "20 years" by "The Abominable Snowmen" (DW1) (1935).

The Doctor is wounded during the Gallipoli Campaign in World War I.

"The Sea Devils" (DW1). Exact date is conjecture. The Campaign ran from April 25, 1915 to January 8, 1916.

1916

Tommy Brockless begins courting a woman named Ellie.

"To The Last Man" (TW). Tommy courted Ellie for "two years" before breaking off the relationship in 1918.

1917

Ernest Rutherford becomes the first man to "split the atom" in a nuclear reaction, transmuting an atom of nitrogen in one of oxygen. In 2008, Professor Richard Lazarus would call his rejuvenation process the greatest scientific advancement since this event.

"The Lazarus Experiment" (DW2).

The United States of America enters the Great War, later known as World War I. One of the many Americans fighting in the War includes a man named Solomon, who would, more than a decade later, become the unofficial leader of the New York City shanty town called Hooverville.

Solomon mentions his time in the War in "Daleks in Manhattan" (DW2) (1930), saying he fought "thirteen years ago".

The Family of Blood (DW2): While fighting on the Western Front during World War I, Tim Latimer, based on a vision he had in 1913, saves himself and fellow former schoolmate Hutchinson from an incoming bomb.

Exact placement during the War in conjectural, but Tim does talk about his original vision being "all those years ago".

During World War I, soldiers are taken by the War Lords to fight in their War Games. They are returned to this time by the Time Lords.

In "The War Games", the World War I zone is specifically referred to as "the 1917 zone".

Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, young cousins living in Cottingley, England, take a number of pictures of each other with "fairies", time-spanning beings existing alongside mankind without humans realizing it. Despite later statements by Wright and Griffiths that the images are fakes, this is untrue and the fairies are real. One of the fairies is a transformed Jasmine Pierce, taken by the creatures in 2007.

Historical events expanded on in "Small Worlds" (TW).

1918

March: The Spanish flu pandemic begins. Between now and June 1920, at least 20 million people around the world will die from an unusually severe and deadly Influenza A virus strain. One victim is Colonel Hugh Curbishley, husband to Lady Clemency Eddison. However, the Colonel exaggerates the effects the flu has on him, pretending to be confined to a wheelchair; he does this believing it to be the only way to keep Clemency's love.

The Colonel refers to his "condition" stemming from the "flu epidemic back in '18" in "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (DW2). The pandemic is also referred to in "Children of Earth" (TW).

While on leave, Tommy Brockless breaks up with his girlfriend Ellie.

In "To The Last Man" (TW), Tommy says this happened on his last leave before ending up in hospital.

A nurse at St Teilo's Military Hospital sees three "ghosts", in reality echoes from the future, caused by a time rift based at the hospital.

Shortly before "To The Last Man" (TW).

To The Last Man (TW): Torchwood Three operatives Gerald Carter and Harriet Derbyshire visit St Teilo's Military Hospital, tracking down strange energy readings. They encounter future Torchwood member Toshiko Sato and a young soldier Tommy Brockless. Tommy tells Carter and Derbyshire that an earlier version of himself is in the next room and he must be taken away so that Tommy can take his own place. The Torchwood operatives take away the younger Tommy and, as Toshiko returns to her own time, the elder Tommy does replace himself in his hospital bed.

Tommy immediately beings to revert to his shell-shocked state, unable to remember where he has been and what he is meant to accomplish. He then receives a mental message from Toshiko, urging him to activate the Rift manipulator he carries. He does so, thus preventing a time rift from merging 1918 with the 21st century.

The year is initially given in an on-screen caption and is used frequently throughout the episode.

The younger Tommy Brockless is placed into cryogenic freeze by Torchwood. Instructions for Tommy and Toshiko to read in the future are sealed in a container, which will only open when the correct level of Rift energies are present.

Some time after "To The Last Man" (TW).

The older, shell-shocked Tommy Brockless is found guilty of cowardice, and is executed by firing squad.

"Three weeks" after "To The Last Man" (TW).

1919

Torchwood agent Harriet Derbyshire is killed.

"To The Last Man" (TW). A year after the photograph shown was presumably taken in 1918.

When Tommy Brockless is awoken from his cryogenic freeze for the first time, he is informed that the War is over.

"To The Last Man" (TW).

1920

January: Toshiko Sato's grandfather is born.

He is celebrating his 88th birthday at the time of "Captain Jack Harkness" (TW) (January 2008).

June: While doing research for an article on fairies for the Strand Magazine, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writer of the Sherlock Holmes adventures, comes across pictures of Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths with with real "fairies". As a Spiritualist, Conan Doyle is convinced the pictures are genuine and becomes a great supporter of the images.

Conan Doyle's involvement with the Cottingly fairies is mentioned in "Small Worlds" (TW).

December 5: Blink (DW2): Katherine Nightingale appears in Hull on this date, thrown back in time from 2007 by the Weeping Angels. The first person she meets is her future husband, Benjamin Wainwright.

Katherine reads the date from Benjamin's newspaper.

1921

Nancy is born.

Assuming the Doctor's estimate of Nancy's age is corrent, twenty years before "The Doctor Dances" (DW2) (1941).

1922

A foreigner staying at the Fox Inn in Tullock goes out on Tullock Moor and vanishes, possibly having been abducted by the Zygons.

"Terror of the Zygons" (DW1).

Doctor Judson is crippled around this time. Commander A.H. Millington may be involved in some way.

"Over twenty years" before "The Curse of Fenric" (DW1) (1943).

1923

George Cranleigh's expedition to the Orinoco region of the Amazon ends in tragedy when Cranleigh is horribly disfigured by the Kojabe Indians for theft of their sacred Black Orchid; he is driven mad by the experience. He is eventually rescued and befriended by Dittar Latoni, leader of a rival tribe, and brought back to his home in England. George is hidden away in the attic of Cranleigh Hall, his existence known only a select few, including his mother Lady Cranleigh, and his brother Charles.

Two years before "Black Orchid" (DW1) (1925).

1924

November 29: The Doctor is present as Italian composer Giacomo Puccini dies, leaving his opera Turandot unfinished.

The Doctor's presence is established in Doctor Who (TVM).

1925

From Out of the Rain (TW): The Night Travellers circus abducts a group of vistors to their show, including a young girl.

Placement of this scene is conjectural. The fashions would see to indicate it takes place sometime in the 1920s.

June: Black Orchid (DW1) 1-2: The 5th Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan meet the Cranleighs, including Charles and his fiancée Ann Talbot, who is a double of Nyssa. Charles' disfigured brother, George, who was presumed dead two years earlier, attempts to abduct Ann, to whom he was once engaged. He perishes in the attempt.

The Doctor gives the date of their arrival date as "June 11, 1925".

November: T.S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men" is first published. Both Richard Lazarus and the 10th Doctor will quote the poem during their confrontation in 2008.

"The Lazarus Experiement" (DW2).

1926

The Electro Cinema is established in Cardiff, Wales.

"From Out of the Rain" (TW).

Italian composer Franco Alfano finishes the late Giacomo Puccini's opera Turando from Pucinni's notes.

As mentioned by the Doctor in Doctor Who (TVM).

June 4: While sailing to Bombay, the S. S. Bernice and all aboard are abducted by Vorg's Mini-Scope in the future. They are returned by the 3rd Doctor's efforts to a point shortly after.

"Carnival of Monsters" (DW1).

June 4: Carnival of Monsters (DW1) 4: The S. S. Bernice continues on its way to Bombay, its passengers only vaguely aware of their time in the Mini-Scope.

From the date given by the Doctor for the ship's disappearance. It's not clear whether the Bernice still goes missing to preserve the history remembered by the Doctor or if history is slightly altered by the ship's return.

On a hot, summer day, the magazine serial writer of the adventures of Captain Jack Harkaway for The Ensign is abducted from Earth by the rulers of the Land of Fiction to be used as a source of imagination.

"The Mind Robber" (DW1).

Agatha Christie's husband reveals that he has been having an affair with another woman, Nancy Neele, and wants a divorce.

Some time before "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (DW2).

The Unicorn and the Wasp (DW2): The half-Vespiform son of Lady Clemency Eddison, living as the Reverend Golightly, remembers his alien heritage during a moment of anger. This also forms a momentary psychic link between Golightly and his mother through the telepathic recorder she wears as a necklace; the Agatha Christie novel she is reading imprints on the Reverend the belief that life is like a Christie murder mystery.

The following week, Lady Eddison and her husband, Colonel Hugh Curbishley, hold a garden party, at which Agatha Christie and Reverend Golightly are guests. Also attending are the 10th Doctor and Donna. Golightly begins to kill other guests in the manner of the Christie novel, but with the help of Christie herself, the Doctor and Donna are able to expose the killer. In the process, the notorious jewel thief, the Unicorn, is also exposed.

After Golightly is revealed as the killer, he resumes his wasp-like form and follows Christie, now in possession of and linked to the telepathic recorder, to a nearby lake. The murderous Vespiform is drowned when the recorder is tossed in the lake and Christie's memories of the day's events are erased. The Doctor and Donna drop the author off at the Harrogate Hotel ten days later; she will never fully remember her adventure with the time-travellers.

The real life Christie's "missing week" occurred in December of 1926, although the episode seems to take place during the summer.

1927

The Plaza Picture House opens in Cardiff, Wales.

"From Out of the Rain" (TW).

Miracle Day (TW) 7: Jack Harkness, on a Torchwood mission to the United States, has his visa stolen in Ellis Island by Angelo Colasanto, a young man from Italy wishing to live in New York City. Angelo is arrested, but Jack has him released and the two get a room in the city together. They quickly become lovers.

Craving a "companion" of his own, Jack takes Angelo on his mission, destroying an alien parasite being used by the Trickster's Brigade to harm future US President Franklin D. Roosevelt's mind, allowing the Third Reich to win World War II. Although the mission is a success, Angelo is caught and arrested by the police, but not before seeing Jack shot in the head, leaving Angelo believing that Jack is dead.

The year is given in an on-screen caption.

Jack spends at least some of the next year in Los Angeles.

"Miracle Day" (TW).

September-November: The Doctor is present as Cuban chess grandmaster José Raúl Capablanca loses his title to Russian-born Alexander Alekhine during a series of matches in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Doctor's presence at this real event is established in "The Androids of Tara" (DW1).

November: Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected Governor of New York State.

Stated by Jack in "Miracle Day" (TW). (In the real world, however, FDR was not elected until the following year.)

December: In The Royal Magazine, the character of Miss Marple is introduced in the short story "The Tuesday Night Club" by author Agatha Christie. It is possible that Christie's creation of the character is partly based on remarks made to her by Donna Noble the previous year.

Donna briefly describes Miss Marple to Christie in "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (DW2).

1928

Miracle Day (TW) 7: Angelo Colasanto is released from Sing Sing Prison and is terrified when met by a still-living Jack Harkness. Angelo, believing that Jack is the Devil, stabs him in their apartment. Eventually, Jack is locked away at the butcher's shop below their apartement, where the owners and several others, also terrified at Jack's resurrections, kill Jack over and over again, collecting some of his blood. Before Jack can be sold to a trio of businessmen, Angelo, realizing his mistake, frees him. Angelo wishes to run away with Jack, but Jack, believing he can never have a true relationship with anyone, leaves the city alone.

A caption gives the year.

A jar of hibiscus blossom honey produced by Welsh bee-keeper Goronwy's bees in this year will be given to the 7th Doctor in 1959.

"Delta and the Bannermen" (DW1).

1929

Around this time, with the advent of motion pictures, travelling circuses, including the strange Night Travellers, being to die off. The Travellers, however, do live on, their essences trapped in a number of film clips made of them.

In "From Out of the Rain" (TW) (2009), Jack says that the Travellers have been "on this film for 80 years".

March 4: Herbert Hoover is sworn in as the 31st President of the United States of America.

Hoover's election is mentioned in "Daleks in Manhattan" (DW2).

A Humber 16/50 Open Tourer Imperial Model automobile eventually owned by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is built this year.

"Mawdryn Undead" (DW1).

October 29: In the United States, on a day that will become known as Black Tuesday, the stock market suffers a devestating crash, ushering in the Great Depression. There follows a decade-long period of high unemployment, high poverty and stagnant trade around the world. Across the U.S., shanty towns, populated by the homless and unemployed and named "Hoovervilles" (after President Herbert Hoover), crop up, including one in New York City's Central Park.

The events are discussed in "Daleks in Manhattan" (DW2).

1930

Mystery writer Agatha Christie marries archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan.

The Doctor mentions Christie's second marriage in "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (DW2).

March 17: Construction officially begins on the Empire State Building in New York City. Some months later, the Cult of Skaro, trapped in this time period after fleeing 21st century Earth, secretly take over the building site and hire a Mr. Diagoras as head of the construction. Mr. Diagoras also collects homeless and unemployed men for the Daleks to experiment on. Their initial attempts to grow new Dalek embryos fail, so the Cult instead decide to create Dalek/human hybrids to use as an army.

Dating from the real Empire State Building's history. The Daleks' involvement is revealed in "Daleks in Manhattan" (DW2) and "Evolution of the Daleks" (DW2).

The 4th Doctor visits the planet Tigella and assists the natives of that world with a problem with their power source, the Dodecahedron.

"Some fifty years" before "Meglos" (DW1) (1980).

New York showgirl Heidi Chicane breaks her ankle, which allows fellow performer Tallulah to sing the lead for the musical number "My Angel Put The Devil In Me".

Some time before "Daleks in Manhattan" (DW2).

October/November: Daleks in Manhattan (DW2)/Evolution of the Daleks (DW2): The 10th Doctor and Martha visit New York City during the Great Depression. They discover that the Daleks known as the Cult of Skaro are, in desperation, collecting the homeless and disenfranchised for a "final experiment". Using the power of a solar flare funnelled down through the Empire State Building, they plan to bend the abducted humans to their will. Dalek Sec also attempts a merging with a human being, creating a human/Dalek hybrid; Sec, experiencing human emotions, turns against the rest of the Cult. Although the Cult destroys Sec, the controlled humans, thanks to the Doctor, turn against the Daleks, killing all but Caan, who escapes via emergency temporal shift.

The main action of the story begins on November 1, 1930, as shown on the newspaper Martha finds. The teaser takes place "two weeks ago", in October.

1931

On its long journey from Urbanka, Monarch's ship begins to receive radio transmissions from Earth around this time.

"Fifty years" before "Four to Doomsday" (DW1) (1981).

June: Thomas Campbell Brockless, father of Tommy Brockless, dies of a heart attack.

"To The Last Man" (TW).

November: The motion picture Frankenstein, directed by James Whale and based on Mary Shelley's classic novel, is released. A hapless morgue attendant will be watching this film on TV in 1999 when the newly resurrected 8th Doctor bursts out of the morgue, frightening him rather badly.

As seen in Doctor Who (TVM).

1932

Between this year and 1940, the "Pied Piper" entity roams America as "Odd Bob the Clown", abducting many children.

"The Day of the Clown" (SJA).

The Ritz dance hall in Cardiff, Wales, opens.

"Captain Jack Harkness" (TW).

Summer: It is a hot summer in Wales, with, according to Welsh bee-keeper Goronwy, "abundant cherry blossoms". From his bee-hives, he is able to produce what, in 1959, he calls "a classic honey".

"Delta and the Bannermen" (DW1).

The future-Professor Richard Lazarus is born.

Lazarus is 76 at the time of "The Lazarus Experiment" (DW2) (2008).

1933

The future-Detective Inspector Bishop joins the police form at this time.

In "The Idiot's Lantern" (DW2) (1953), Bishop says he has spent "20 years on the force".

Tom Erasmus Flanagan is born.

"Ghost Machine" (TW). Tom is 8 years old in 1941.

Myra Bennett and Melanie Gough are born this year. They will become victims of the alien "Mary" in 1970 and 1974 respectively.

"Greeks Bearing Gifts" (TW). Myra is 37 at the time of her death, Melanie is 40.

1934

Agatha Christie writes the murder mystery Murder on the Orient Express, featuring Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It the story, it transpires that all of the suspects are repsonsible for the murder, an idea that Christie may remember from her encounter with the Doctor and Donna Noble in 1926.

Donna mentions the "they all did it" aspect of the novel in "The Wasp and the Unicorn" (DW2).

1935

The Abominable Snowmen (DW1) 1-6: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie and Victoria visit the Detsen monastery in Tibet. They discover the retreat under seige by a group of robots in the form of Yeti. These robots are under the control of the Great Intelligence, a disembodied entity wishing to gain physical form and take control of the Earth. With the assistance of the monks of Detsen and explorer Edward Travers, the travellers thwart the Intelligence's plans. At the end of the adventure, Travers successfully discovers a group of real Yeti.

The date of 1935 is given in this story's sequel, "The Web of Fear" (DW1).

Sarah Pallister is born. She will become one of Suzie Costello's murder victims in 2007.

Sarah's age at the time of her murder is given as 72 in "Everything Changes" (TW).

Richard Playle is born. He will be killed by the alien "Mary" in 1973.

"Greeks Bearing Gifts" (TW). Richard is 39 when he is killed.

Emma-Louise Cowell is born.

"Out of Time" (TW). Emma is 18 when she is flung into the future from 1953.

Agatha Christie's novel Death in the Clouds is first published. Christie's inclusion of a wasp as part of the plot may by inspired by her forgotten adventure with the Doctor in 1926.

As hypothesized by the Doctor in "The Wasp and the Unicorn" (DW2).

1936

Nancy, aged only 15, gives birth to her son, Jamie. Afraid of how people will react to her teenage parenthood, Nancy will tell others, including Jamie himself, that her son is her younger brother.

Five years before "The Doctor Dances" (DW2) (1941).

1937

Building on earlier work by American physicist Karl Jansky, Grote Reber of Wheaton, Illinois builds the first fully fledged radio telescope on Earth.

The Doctor's estimate of the radio telescope being invented "40 years early" in "Pyramids of Mars" (DW1) (1911) is a bit off.

April 6: John Ellis's son Adam is born.

"Out of Time" (TW).

July: Pilot Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappear while attempting the Pacific Ocean stretch of a circumnavigation of the Earth. Neither their remains or the wreckage of their plane is ever found.

"Out of Time" (TW) (although Diane misspeaks, saying this happened in 1932).

1938

Professor Travers returns from Tibet, bringing with him many artifacts relating to the Great Intelligence and the Yeti. He sells one of the Yeti to a man named Silverstein.

"Thirty years" before "The Web of Fear" (DW1) (1968).

March 12: Hilter annexes Austria, an event heralded by the passing of the Nemesis statue over the Earth.

According to the Doctor in "Silver Nemesis" (DW1).

April: The Angels Take Manhattan (DW2): Rory suddenly finds himself in New York City in this era, thrown back through time from 2012 by the Weeping Angels. He encounters his daughter River Song, posing as a private detective by the name of Melody Malone, and investigating the Angels' apparent invasion of Manhattan.

Not long after, the 11th Doctor and Amy arrive in the TARDIS and rejoin Rory and River. Using a yet-to-be-written book chronicling the adventures of "Melody Malone", the time-travellers discover Winter Quay, an apartment building set up by the Angels as a sort of temporal energy farm. Inhabitants of the building are sent back through time repeatedly, causing them to live their lives in a matter of moments, sometimes dying even as they first arrive at the Quay.

One of the inhabitants is discovered to be Rory, who dies before the eyes of his younger self. To stop the future chain of events, Rory and Amy jump off the roof of the building, killing themselves. This causes a paradox, destroying the Angels and retroactively erasing Winter Quay from existence, sending the Doctor and his once again living companions to 2012.

A date of April 3, 1938 is given in the Melody Malone book, with the episode's prologue likely taking place a day or two before.

Let's Kill Hitler (DW2): The TARDIS, with the 11th Doctor, Amy, Rory, and Amy and Rory's life-long friend Mels, crash-lands in Adolph Hitler's study in Berlin, inadvertently stopping the torture of Hitler by the Teselecta, a time-travelling, shape-shifting robot crewed by miniaturised humans on a mission to punish the greatest criminals in history.

In the confusion, Hitler (who is subsequently locked in a cupboard) has accidentally shot Mels. Revealing herself as Melody Pond, she regenerates into the form that the other time-travellers know her better in. Melody poisons the Doctor, simultaneously shutting down his regenerative abilities. Melody, considered one of the biggest war criminals in history for killing the Doctor, is captured by the Tesselecta, but is released when Amy and Rory (being held inside the robot/ship) force the crew to evacuate, although not before learning that Melody was turned into a weapon of behalf of the religious order called the Silence.

After seeing the Doctor's devotion to his companions, and learning that she is destined to become his close friend River Song, Melody sacrifices her remaining regenerations to save the Doctor's life. The Doctor then takes Melody into several thousand years into the future to recover.

The year is given in an on-screen caption.

December 24: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (DW2): The 11th Doctor, after destroying an invading spaceship in orbit over the planet, plummets to Earth in a collision spacesuit, with its helmet on backwards. He is discovered by a woman named Madge Arwell who helps guide the blinded Doctor back to his TARDIS. He vows to be there for her when she may need help in future.

It is Christmas Eve, three years before the 1941 section of the episode.

1939

Issue #27 of the comic book Detective Comics features the first appearance of the costumed crime-fighter Batman, who will become one of the most celebrated fictional characters in modern history.

The Doctor name-checks Batman in "Inferno" (DW1).

Another attempt is made to excavate the Devil's Hump at Devil's End. This attempt fails and becomes known as "the Cambridge University Fiasco".

Meanwhile, an Anglo-Saxon burial ship is successfully excavated at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk; it is considered one of the most significant archaeological finds in England.

"The Dæmons" (DW1) (with the date for the Sutton Hoo dig being from the actual historical event).

1940

June 4: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, before the House of Commons, makes one of his best known speeches, designated We shall fight on the beaches. Clyde Langer badly misquotes this speech when he visits the year 1941.

Clyde's misquoting is seen in "Lost in Time" (SJA).

July 10-October 31: The German Luftwaffe unleashes an intense bombing campaign against Britain in an attempt to gain air superiority over Royal Air Force. During this "Battle of Britain", RAF Group Captain Jack Harkness registers 26 enemy casualties.

Harkness' record is revealed in "Captain Jack Harkness" (TW).

September 7: Marking the beginning of the period known as the London Blitz, Nazi Germany begins a sustained aerial bombing of London, which Germany has previously avoided bombing during the Battle of Britain. Many nights during the Blitz, a young Richard Lazarus takes refuge in Southwark Cathedral. As he sits in the cathedral's crypt, listening to the bombs, he begins to develop a higher than usual aversion to dying and death, swearing to never face death again.

Lazarus describes his childhood during the Blitz in "The Lazarus Experiment" (DW2).

December: The Park Vale barracks in Ealing, future site of Park Vale Comprehensive School, is destroyed by a German bomb. As a result, a Berserker pendant stored there is lost and will not be recovered until 2009.

"The Mark of the Berserker" (SJA).

December: RAF Group Captain Jack Harkness begins training a group of young recruits in Cardiff, Wales.

"Five weeks" before "Captain Jack Harkness" (TW).

1941

January: A con-man and former Time Agent from the 51st century crashlands a stolen Chula battlefield ambulance in the heart of Blitz-torn London, having sent a false distress signal to the time-ship following him, whose crew he plans to con (unware that it the ship is a TARDIS and not a Time Agent ship). Unknown to the con-man, when the ambulance crashes, it releases medical nanogenes which discover a recently dead child named Jamie. The nanogenes reanimate Jamie's corpse. However, believing Jamie's condition (wearing a gas-mask, collapsed lung, desperately seeking his "mummy") to be typical human physiognomy, and begin to spread across London, "repairing" other humans into zombie-like copies of the boy. Jamie begins to stalk his "sister" (really his mother) Nancy. Meanwhile, the British army sets up a cordon around the ambulance, believing the alien ship to be some sort of secret German weapon.

During the month before "The Empty Child" (DW2) and "The Doctor Dances" (DW2).

January 20: Captain Jack Harkness (TW): Jack and Tosh of Torchwood find themselves transported through a temporal rift back in time from 2008 to the Ritz dance hall in Cardiff during World War II. Tosh hides mathematical equations throughout the building to give the Torchwood team in the future enough information to accurately open the Rift and bring her and Jack home. However, Bilis Manger, the mysterious manager and caretaker of the Ritz (who can freely travel through time), sabotages one of the formulas for his own unknown purposes. Meanwhile, Jack meets his namesake, Captain Jack Harkness, the American serving as an RAF Group Captain whose identity Torchwood Jack acquired his first time visiting 1941. Eventually, the rest of the Torchwood team opens up the Rift, returning Jack and Tosh to 2008.

A poster clearly gives the date of the "Kiss the Boys Goodbye Dance" at the Ritz.

January 21: RAF Group Captain Jack Harkness takes his men up for their final training exercise. The group is taken by surprise by two squadrons of German Messerschmitts. Harkness destroys three of the enemy, saving his men. However, Harkness' plane catches on fire during the skirmish, leaving him unable to bail out and he dies when his plane goes down.

The con-man from the 51st century takes advantage of this event and falsifies Harkness' records, making it seem that the Captain is still alive. The former Time Agent then takes on the name and identity of Captain Harkness and continues his wait for the arrival of the TARDIS.

The day after "Captain Jack Harkness" (TW) and leading up the "The Empty Child" (DW2). January 21st seems to be confirmed in "Everything Changes" (TW), when records show that Captain Harkness merely failed to report for duty rather than died.

February: The Empty Child (DW2)/The Doctor Dances (DW2): The Ninth Doctor and Rose arrive in London during the Blitz, attempting to track down a distress signal. This leads them to the former Time Agent and con-man "Captain Jack Harkness", and the Chlua ambulance he intends to use as part of his double-cross scheme. Unfortunately, the ambulance nanogenes continue to infecte the local population, still changing them into zombie-like copies of Jamie, the young boy killed in an explosion. Once exposed to Jamie's mother Nancy, the nanogenes are able to properly decipher human DNA, restoring all the infectees and resuscitating Jamie. Jack joins the TARDIS crew, after sacrificing his own time ship to prevent a German bomb from killing the former infectees.

The year is given a number of times. This must take place at least a little while, probably a couple of weeks, after "Captain Jack Harkness" (TW), given the amount of time needed for Jack to have worked his way successfully into military heirarchy.

A Dalek Saucer and three Daleks arrive in this time period, escaping through a time corridor from their defeat in 2009. They discover a last surviving Progenitor, a device left over from the Time War, containing pure Dalek DNA and the means to recreate the species. However, the Progenitor does not recognise these Daleks as pure, and will not activate for them.

Realising the Progenitor may recognise Time Lords, the Daleks engineer an encounter with the Doctor. They create an android in the form of a Dr. Edwin Bracewell, giving him a full set of false memories (possibly from a real Bracewell) and superior scientific knowledge. "Bracewell" believes that the Daleks are a group of robots, called "Ironsides", that he has invented and approaches the British Army, offering their use in the War. The Army accepts and the Ironsides project proceeds.

Churchill says that Bracewell approached "our brass hats months ago" in "Victory of the Daleks" (DW2). The actual arrival of the Daleks and the beginning of their plans may have taken place some months earlier.

8-year old Thomas Erasmus Flanagan is evacuated from London to the Welsh countryside. As a result of a mix-up, nobody is at the train station to meet Thomas on his arrival in Cardiff. The frightened boy wanders about, lost. His fear leaves an emotional imprint that will allow Gwen Cooper to use a quantum transducer to see an image of young Flanagan in 2007. Someone finally finds Tom and he is taken to his new home in the Welsh countryside.

"Ghost Machine" (TW).

March: The Beast Below (DW2): British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, experiencing some doubts about the Ironsides project (believing them "too good to be true"), telephones the Doctor for assistance.

A month before "Victory of the Daleks" (DW2).

Prime Minister Churchill's doubts over the Ironsides project dwindle as he sees the potential for quickly ending the War.

During the month between "The Beast Below" (DW2) and "Victory of the Daleks" (DW2).

April 17: Victory of the Daleks (DW2): The 11th Doctor and Amy answer Churchill's call and discover the Daleks masquerading as Dr. Bracewell's "Ironsides". When the Doctor directly states that he is the Doctor and that the Ironsides are Daleks, the Progenitor device on the Dalek saucer activates. The Doctor visits the saucer to confront his enemies and encounters a newly-born group of pure Daleks.

After a pitched battle between the saucer and a group of Spitfires (souped up by Bracewell's advanced knowledge), the Doctor is forced to let the Daleks escape, while he prevents the Bracewell android from exploding and destroying the Earth.

The story takes place during the London Blitz (Sept. 1940 to May 1941). Near the end of the story, Churchill mentions that St. Paul's Cathedral was hit "again". St. Paul's was only successfully hit by bombs twice during the Blitz, on October 10, 1940 and April 17, 1941, placing this adventure on the second date.

Vincent van Gogh's painting The Pandorica Opens is discovered behind a wall in an attic in France and sent to the Cabinet War Rooms in London.

Some time before "The Pandorica Opens" (DW2).

The Pandorica Opens (DW2): Winston Churchill and Dr. Bracewell examine van Gogh's The Pandorica Opens. Recognising the TARDIS in the painting, Churchill attempts to call the Doctor about it. Unable to receive the call, the TARDIS reroutes it to River Song in a prison in 5145. Churchill make Song aware of the painting's existence, so that she can aquire it in her own time and get its message to the Doctor.

The caption for this scene places it in "Cabinet War Rooms, London, 1941", presumably after "Victoria of the Daleks" (DW2).

By this time, in the altered timeline caused by the TARDIS exploding in 2010, a legend about "the Lone Centurion" has come about, based on the Auton duplicate of Rory Williams' centuries of protecting the Pandorica. His last recorded appearance is this year, in London, during the Blitz. The warehouse storing the Pandorica is destroyed by German bombs, but Rory, on his own, drags the box out before it can come to any harm.

"The Big Bang" (DW2).

The "unsinkable" German battleship Bismark is sunk in battle.

The Doctor makes mention of the Bismark's sinking in "Terror of the Zygons" (DW1).

June 7: Lost in Time (SJA) 1-2: Clyde Langer finds himself on a beach outside a village, on a mission from 2010 to find a piece of "chronosteel", a metal that could alter the course of history. Along with a boy named George Woods, Clyde discovers a small force of Nazis, who take the boys captive and occupy a nearby church. The Nazis have a device, powered by the chronosteel fragment, with which they can block radar systems and start an invasion of Britain. Clyde and George thwart the Nazis' scheme and Clyde returns to his own time with the chronosteel.

George tells Clyde the exact date.

December 7: Aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy attack the United States Pacific Fleet base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, killing more than 2300 personnel and drawing the United States into World War II. Toshiko Sato's parents suffer racial abuse after the attacks.

The impact of this historical event on Tosh's family is mentioned in "Captain Jack Harkness" (TW).

December 20-25: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (DW2): Reg Arwell, husband of Madge Arwell and father of Lily and Cyril Arwell, is flying over the English Channel when his plane goes missing, and he is presumed dead. Magde recieves a telegram regarding this, but keeps the news to herself.

On Christmas Eve day, Madge and the children travel to a relative's country estate in Dorset, only to discover that the regular caretaker has been replaced by the 11th Doctor. The Doctor has transformed much of the house into a children's wonderland. There is also a "gift" in a large blue box, actually a gateway to a wintry planet in the year 5345. The Doctor and the Arwells have an adventure in the future and travel back to 1941 through the Time Vortex in a ship piloted by Madge herself. During the return voyage, she manages to pull Reg's plane forward through time to Christmas Day, and the family is reunited.

While in the future, Madge states that she is from "1941". The date of Reg's plane vanishing is seen on the telegram and the story concludes on Christmas Day.

1942

The Doctor is wounded in battle at El-Alamein, Egypt, during World War II.

The Doctor makes this claim in "The Sea Devils" (DW1). There were actually two Battles of El-Alamein, but both took place in 1942.

1943

A squadron of Russian soliders is sent into German-occupied Romania on a sabotage mission. Only one man returns alive, speaking of "dead men coming out of the black fog". His superiors are of the opinion that the soldier has put too much stock in Romanian vampire tales.

"Six months" prior to "The Curse of Fenric" (DW1).

In an alternative timeline where Britain has become a fascist state, the Defence of the Republic Act in passed. This Act will give Brigade-Leader Lethbridge-Stewart the power to order the execution of the 3rd Doctor without need of a trial when the Doctor visits this timeline in 1972.

"Inferno" (DW1).

North Atlantic German U-Boats change the ciphers for their coded messages for the second time in a month. Meanwhile, merchant navyman Frank Dudman, husband of Kathleen Dudman (and therefore Ace's grandfather), dies when his ship is torpedoed.

Not long before "The Curse of Fenric" (DW1).

The Curse of Fenric (DW1) 1-4: On the coast of Northumbria, the 7th Doctor and Ace confront Fenric, the powerful evil force once imprisoned by the Doctor. To orchestrate his release, Fenric gathers his "wolves", individuals he has manipulated across time, including a number of English and Russian soldiers, Ace, and the Ancient One, leader of the blood-consuming Haemovores from a possible, near dead, future Earth. Upon his release, Fenric intends to poison the Earth with a powerful toxin gathered by the British army, a toxin that will cause the Ancient One's terrible future to come into being. The Doctor makes the Ancient One aware of this, turning him against Fenric, whom he kills.

During this adventure, Ace meets Kathleen Dudman and her baby daughter Audrey, Ace's future grandmother and mother. Ace sends them to London, away from the conflict with Fenric, thus ensuring her own future existence.

Ace gives the year as "1943".

1944

The Impossible Astronaut (DW2): The 11th Doctor aids a group of World War II POWs in their escape attempt. Unfortunately, the attempt goes awry, as the tunnel their way into the German Commandant's office.

Exact date is conjecture. I'm picking 1944 for no better reason than that being the setting for the book and film "The Great Escape".

A German V1 or "doodlebug" bomb falls in the area around what will be the Newton Institute in Wootton. Another V1 is pulled forward through time by the Master pulls a German V1 to attack a UNIT convoy.

"The Time Monster" (DW1). A local gives the date and the Doctor describes the V1 as being from "the end of the Hitler war".

1945

May: The Allies defeat the Axis powers in Europe, ending the Second World War on that continent.

In "The Doctor Dances" (DW2), Rose refers to the end of the war, telling Nancy, "We win." Also, in "Lost in Time" (SJA), Clyde asks young George Woods to delay signing up to fight in the War for a few years, "1945 to be precise."

June 18: Future Torchwood operative Lucia Moretti is born.

"Children of Earth" (TW).

1946

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Lewis is born.

"Ghost Machine" (TW). Lizzie is 17 at the time of her death in 1963.

1947

The Victim, a novel by Saul Bellow, is published. A copy of the novel will be part of Professor Chronotis' library in 1980.

The Doctor reads the line "On some nights New York is as hot as Bangkok" from the book in Shada (DW1).

A spacecraft of unspecified alien origin crashes in the area of Roswell, New Mexico in the United States. The event is kept secret from the general public, but by the early 21st century, a mileometer from the craft will eventually find its way into billionaire Henry van Statten's private collection of alien artefacts.

The United States military reverse engineer the craft from the wreckage; the resulting schematics are kept at the Dreamland base in Arizona.

Although the date of the crash is not given during its mention in "Dalek" (DW2), according to the conspiracy theories, this is the year that the alleged events in Roswell took place. The schematics and their storage are mentioned in "Prisoner of the Judoon" (SJA).

November: Stuart Hyde is born. He will become Dr. Ruth Ingram's assistant at the Newton Institute at Wootton.

Stewart is to turn 26 years old "in seven weeks" at the time of "The Time Monster" (DW1) (1973).

1948

The opening ceremonies for the 1948 Summer Olympics are held at Wembley Stadium in London. The Doctor attends and enjoys the spectacle so much he travels back through time to watch it again.

Mentioned by the Doctor in "Fear Her" (DW2).

At this time, Wilfred Mott is a private in the British Army, stationed in Palestine at the end of its British Mandate.

"The End of Time" (DW2).

1950

Professor Zaroff, a leader in the field of producing food from the sea, goes missing, presumed either kidnapped or killed, with the Eastern and Western blocs blaming each other. In reality, Zaroff has discovered a surviving, underwater section of Atlantis, and has relocated there, promising the Atlanteans that can raise their city from the ocean. However, over the next 20 years, the insane Zaroff secretly works towards the destruction of the world.

"Twenty years" before "The Underwater Menace" (DW1) (1970).

1951

The last Witchcraft Law in England is repealed at this time.

"The Dæmons" (DW1).

Welsh poet Dylan Thomas composes what probably becomes his best known poem, Do not go gentle into that good night. Shakespeare is tempted to use the line "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" when the Doctor quotes it during a visit to 1599, until the Doctor points out that is it already "somebody else's".

Shakespeare considers using this future poem in "The Shakespeare Code" (DW2).

May: Sarah Jane Smith is born to Eddie and Barbara Smith in the town of Foxgrove.

Sarah Jane is three months by the time of "The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith" (SJA) (August).

August 15: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (SJA) 1-2: Sarah Jane and Luke travel through a time fissure from the early 21st century to the town of Foxgrove, where Sarah Jane meets Eddie and Barbara Smith, the parents who apparently abandoned her at this time, subsequently dying in a car crash. To prevent the crash, Sarah Jane disables her parents car. This alters the timeline enough to allow the Trickster, who has arranged the entire scenario, to manifest physically and enslave the Earth. Before the Trickster is completely able to manifest, Rani travels to this time from the altered future and explains to Sarah Jane that her parents' deaths are the key to defeating the Trickster. Eddie and Barbara willingly accept their fates, "abandoning" the three month old Sarah Jane to the future she is meant to have and sacrificing themselves in their fatal car accident. The Trickster fades from physical exsistence.

The exact date is confimed by the newspaper found by Luke.

After the death of Sarah Jane's parents, her aunt Lavinia Smith becomes her guardian and raises her.

"The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith" (SJA).

The future Mrs. Randall becomes Miss Ealing of 1951.

"Eye of the Gorgon" (SJA).

December: Andrea Yates is born.

Sarah and Andrea are both 15 in the 1964 segments of "Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?" (SJA), likely making them born the same year. Andrea celebrates her birthday during the December 2008 part of the same serial.

1952

Pilot Diane Holmes flies from England to Australia in four days.

"Out of Time" (TW).

A Christmas Carol (DW2): The 11th Doctor brings Kazran Sardick and Abigail Pettigrew to a party in Hollywood. During the party, Abigail confesses to Kazran that she is suffering from an incurable, fatal disease, and has only one more day left to live outside of cryogenic freeze.

While attending the party, the Doctor sings a duet with Frank Sinatra and accidentally becomes engaged to Marilyn Monroe.

The year is written on the back of Kazran's photo of the event.

1953

Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart begins his military service at this time.

By the time of "Mawdryn Undead" (DW1) (1983), the Brigadier has seen "30 years of soldiering".

May 2: The FA Cup Final is held in London's Wembley Stadium. After being behind 3-1, Blackpool manages to pull off a 4-3 victory over the Bolton Wanderers. John Ellis and his son Adam watch the match on television.

Ellis talks about this actual sporting event in "Out of Time" (TW).

Early May: The Idiot's Lantern (DW2): A non-corporeal alien being calling itself The Wire inhabits the television sets at Magpie Electricals in Muswell Hill, North London, and attacks the store's owner, Mr. Magpie, feasting on the electrical activity of his brain. As a side-effect of this attack, his face is seemingly "erased".

According to Detective-Inspector Bishop, the faceless people started turning up about a month before the main narrative of the story, placed in June.

The Wire makes a bargain with Mr. Magpie, restoring his face in exchange for doing its bidding. Magpie begins constructing a crude portable television, following The Wire's instructions. He also begins selling his television sets at a vastly reduced price, increasing The Wire's influence as more people place the sets in their homes. Over the next month, The Wire begins feeding on viewers, blanking their faces. Muswell Hill resident Eddie Connolly begins phoning the police to have the victims taken away.

"The Idiot's Lantern" (DW2).

May 29: Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay perform the first successful ascent to the summit of Mount Everest.

The Doctor mentions this event in "The Idiot's Lantern" (DW2).

June 1-2: The Idiot's Lantern (DW2): The 10th Doctor and Rose encounter The Wire, an energy being manifesting itself through televisions and feeding on the electrical activity of viewers, leaving behind faceless shells. The Wire plans to use the Alexandra Palace to feed on the 20 million people watching the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, giving The Wire corporeal form. The Doctor turns the transmitter into a receiver and traps The Wire on a Betamax video tape, which he plans to tape over later.

The story takes place the day before and the day of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, which took place on June 2, 1953.

November: The film Calamity Jane, starring Doris Day and Howard Keel is released. Emma-Louise Cowell and her best friend Kate see the film five times and Emma buys the soundtrack LP.

"Out of Time" (TW). The film was only released in November 1953 in the United States, but not in the U.K. until the following year. Either Emma and Kate visited the U.S. or there is a minor difference in released dates between the "Doctor Who" universe and our own.

December 18: The small airplane Sky Gypsy, on its way to Dublin, is pulled through the Cardiff Rift sending its pilot, Diane Holmes, and passengers Emma-Louise Cowell and John Ellis, forward through time to December 2007. The Sky Gypsy is presumed to have crashed into the sea.

"Out of Time" (TW).

1954

Sept. 15: Rose's father, Peter Alan Tyler is born.

"Father's Day" (DW2).

1955

Park Vale Comprehensive School is built in Ealing on the former location of a barracks destroyed during World War II.

"The Mark of the Berserker" (SJA). "Fifteen years" after the barracks destruction in 1940.

The 4th Doctor visits Prof. Chronotis at St Cedd's College in Cambridge.

"Shada" (DW1).

1956

Around this time, virologist Dr. Lavinia Smith, aunt to future reporter Sarah Jane Smith, writes a paper on "the teleological response of the virus".

In "The Time Warrior" (DW1), the Doctor estimates that Sarah Jane must have been around five years old when the paper was written.

Chris Parsons is born.

"Shada" (DW1).

September 9: Elvis Presley performs a number of songs, including "Hound Dog", live during his first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show". The 10th Doctor and Rose attempt to attend the airing but miss, ending up in London, 1953.

Historical records and "The Idiot's Lantern" (DW2).

An edition of Agatha Christie's novel Death in the Clouds published in this year will have a fascimile of it printed in the year 5 billion.

The Doctor shows this fascimile to Donna in "The Wasp and the Unicorn" (DW2).

1958

The Doctor visits Professor Chronotis at St Cedd's College, Cambridge.

"Shada" (DW1).

Lucy Marmer is born. She will become one of "Mary's" victims in 2001.

"Greeks Bearing Gifts" (TW). She is 43 at the time of her death.

Professor Edgar Nelson-Stanley and his wife Beatrice uncover a talisman during an archeological dig in Syria. The talisman belongs to the alien Gorgons and would allow them to open a portal for the rest of their kind to invade Earth. During an attempt to retrieve the talisman from the Nelson-Stanleys, the second of three Gorgons stranded on Earth is destroyed.

"50 years" before "Eye of the Gorgon" (SJA) (2008).

Future Permanent Secretary to the Home Office of the U.K. John Frobisher is born in Glasgow.

"Children of Earth" (TW).

October: The children's television program Blue Peter first airs on the BBC.

The existence of "Blue Peter" in the DW universe is confirmed in "Aliens of London" (DW2). Given the shows' long-time links, I thought it was worth adding here.

1959

The United States launches an important artificial satellite from Cape Canaveral.

Shortly before "Delta and the Bannermen" (DW1).

Delta and the Bannermen (DW1) 1-3: A tour group of Navarinos from the future, including the 7th Doctor and Mel, goes off course and crash-lands in Wales, while attempting to visit Disneyland in this time period. One of the group, Delta, is secretly Queen of the Chimerons. She is fleeing from the Bannermen, led by the sadistic Gavrok, who have wiped out the rest of her people. With the help of the staff at Shangri-La Holiday Camp, and two American secret agents, the Doctor defeats the Bannermen, partly due to the vocal abilities of Delta's new-born daughter. Delta, with local boy Billy as her new mate, and her daughter leave for their home world in the future, intending to repopulate the planet.

The year is given when the tour is first described.

Emma-Louise Cowell's father dies.

"Out of Time" (TW).

Harry Sowersby is working at the Danemouth Pleasure Park at this time.

"Fifty years" before "The Mad Woman in the Attic" (SJA) (2009).

Return to Table of Contents.

Or travel forward through time to the 1960s.